Marika, from her earliest memory, has been a dreamer and a reader who has enjoyed the work of great and less great authors of fiction, with a passion for stories of adventure and romance, overcoming challenges and achieving the greatest expectations. She has been a writer, teacher, psychologist, wife, mother and hopefully a friend to those who needed one. Being able to write this book is the fulfilment of a long-held desire to write a story that could bring happiness to other enthusiasts of living and loving - people who take time, apart from the madding crowd, to dream and to hope.